The Bachelor sounds like another attempt by Wolf to perfect something that he got pretty much right on his first album.

Ultimately, this isn’t a classic Alice Cooper record by any means; it has a few good songs here and there, but nothing canonical. But, if the point is to document a bunch of old friends getting together and doing the thing that gave their lives meaning, and sounding like they’re having a blast, then it’s mission accomplished.

It's this flitting between moments of brilliance and sections of dainty sounding but ultimately rather tedious meandering that defines the album.

When it catches fire, as on Unholy, it sounds terrific but those moments are too few.

Amazingly, 14 years since their last studio album, the clock has been turned back and Big Country have produced an album on a par with some of their earlier work, probably surpassing 1988’s Peace In Our Time.

The Cat is back, albeit more of a moonshadow of his former self and lacking some purr and bite.

The 10 tracks on her debut are all lovingly crafted, but the languid atmosphere means that they sometimes drift into each other.

Some good moments then, but overall Funeral Party fail to keep the energy levels up.

It probably won’t lead to any sort of career revival, but you get the impression that Lloyd Cole’s perfectly happy just following his path and seeing where it leads at this stage.

It's unclear whether Pop Etc have branded themselves as an out and out dance pop band, or if they remain an alternative, slightly niche group, masquerading as a clichéd pop group.

Optical Delusion is messy, and it certainly doesn’t display the focus of the Hartnoll brothers’ career highlights, but you’re never more than five minutes away from a musically inspired moment.

Despite a few moments of middle-of-the-road excess, The House is a shockingly good album--that is, not actually amazingly good, but just shockingly by Katie Melua.

Half-baked lyrics detract from intelligent and well-executed backing, and as such the album fails to resonate with any of the force that it attempts to muster, despite the odd successful moment.

Point Of Go is a decent, albeit flawed, transition album.

Their fluctuating randomness trails away from scattered innovation and colourful variances in pitch and tone to become interchangeable noise. Without sufficiently varying their distinctive sound, they still serve a herbal tonic for the senses, even if there’s a decidedly bland aftertaste this time. Still, at least there are some nice vinyl options to put away on the shelf.

Turning The Mind represents something of a disappointment.

Napa Asylum graces us with moments of understated beauty, and when it's not terrifying us with bad trips, leaves a feeling of contentment and fuzzy warmth with the world. However, 22 tracks is gratuitous and excessive, and the repetitiveness inherent in some of the tracks shows that quantity, and not always quality, swayed the making of the final cut.

All This Life won’t win any album of the year awards, nor will it garner much critical praise, but how good it actually is comes as a surprise. It’s all too easy to knock the likes of Starsailor, but with the new album largely reflecting the sound of a rejuvenated band, let’s not write them off just yet.

For all the colour and flair apparent on Crazy Itch Radio, and despite some genuine gems... a reliance on production and arrangement where some more killer tunes would have worked more memorably is, perhaps, an indication that the Jaxx have, down the years, simply set the bar high.

For Dead Meadow this is growth of a kind, and it is certainly a move away from their old sound. Whether this is positive growth or not depends on what you want from the band, but as a soundtrack to getting well and truly caned, you can't go far wrong.

While the concept behind Lysandre works well on Owens’ first debut outing, there is always a nagging feeling of something missing throughout the record.

If Alanis lacks breadth in terms of her subject matter, and she does, she makes up for it in the rich variety of styles that have influenced each track.

When the Arctic Monkeys’ career comes to be reappraised, this album could be seen as an outlier, or the start of their next phase. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but sometimes, dividing an audience is exactly what you need to do.

There may come a time when Crystal Antlers' potential coalesces into a great album, and will be greeted with true accolades, rather than a better-luck-next-time send off--unfortunately for us all, Two-Way Mirror is still pre-natal.

Dolly has invited you to her hoe-down, and it would be churlish to refuse. Just remember to leave your brain at the barn door.

As has frequently been the case with later Yo La Tengo albums, the surface appearance of this music is deceptively simple. Delve beneath it, and the artistry that has fuelled the group for three decades gradually reveals itself.

Unfortunately, overall the record is unable to match the consistency of its predecessor. That the trio started work on Friends without a label is certainly telling, as the overriding impression is one of a band in transition.

Ultimately, Rain is slightly too smooth to count as a complete success.